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2587 Graham Street
Built 1913
Designated 2009

Smith & Adams

This house and 2583 Graham Street to the south were built by small developers on two halves of one lot at the beginning of the bust year of the pre-World War I building boom. (The two similar houses on one lot to the south, 2575 and 2579 Graham, were built by another small developer, McGregor.) 2587 and 2583 Graham are both one-storey vernacular Edwardian bungalows, but while 2583 is front-gabled, 2587 is hip-roofed with a hip-roofed dormer on the front slope.

The house is a long rectangle, with a shed-roofed addition on part of the back. The small corner inset front porch is actually just part of the original: the front entry hall was originally an open porch, as evidenced by the outside edge of the porch floor which is now part of the watertable which runs on the wide beltcourse all around the house except for the back addition. The windows on the main floor have been replaced, but on basement and dormer are original. The siding is shingle on all levels and appears to be original. There are exposed rafter tails under the eaves, with aluminum gutters attached to their edges. As the attic was not used, the window of the dormer was presumably for ventilation of the attic and for eventual use of the attic as extra living space if a family grew larger. This was a regular feature of many houses at the time, but in this case, the attic has never been developed as living space. Neither has the six-foot high basement, with its pre-WWI course rubble concrete foundation. As with many small older homes, there was no room for an inside stairway to the basement, so it is accessed by an exterior door at the rear.

The interior still has many original features, such as basic angled Arts and Crafts wooden lintels on doors and windows, picture rail, kitchen cabinets and pantry.

This small working-class home had many different owners during its first 30 years. The earliest known owner was Archibald Rankin, a baker at Perfection Bakery, who lived here in 1914. In 1917, Alexander Innes, a salesman lived here, followed by grocer George N. Bayley in 1921. This pattern of occupancy continued until about 1943, when the house was sold to John and Rose McGregor. They lived here until c.1960. John was a helper at Yarrows.

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